The reason that I mention them here is that they are the quintessential Japanese bar food, AND they are a killer combination with a lot of white wines, ranging from German Rieslings through that Sauv Blanc that you were looking for a food match to tame the acidity.

Anyone else a fan? Is this a largely west coast phenomenon? And if octopus turns you off, you can make them with something else.

As I understand it they are more popular in Kansai (Osaka etc.) than Tokyo. But octopus turns me on, not off, and you can make them in those Danish Ebelskiver pans. I have also found them frozen at H Mart. I wish I could buy them as street food but not around NJ...

Frank - we also have lots of good Okonomiyaki restaurants in Vancouver. I can see how an aebelskiver pan (available on Amazon) would work, although I don't do breakfast/dessert much so I don't own one.

Of course many dim sum would also work with white wine, but the takoyaki combination of a bit of crunch on the outside and smooth flavour inside seems particularly suitable.

Bill Spohn wrote:The reason that I mention them here is that they are the quintessential Japanese bar food...

I love takoyaki as much as the next smart guy, but they seem a bit big and messy to be quintessential bar food. For the Japanese contribution, I would look to thinks like all the cured vegetables/fish/seafood items?

I think it depends on what we consider a bar. I was thinking of a very narrow definition where you mainly drink and have tiny snacks, like dried slivers of fish or cured squid.

Of course if you expand that to izakaya drinking then you get a lot more options, like what Bill is referencing.

Either way, it doesn't really matter much and is making me hungry!

(I don't eat Japanese food often enough, but this past weekend went to En Japanese Brasserie in Nyc for the first time and had wonderful fun with lots of dishes. Plus, it was great for my two-year old who particularly enjoyed twirling the soba).

Izakaya bars are analagous to tapa bars in Spain, or what we used to do in Hawaii (I spent a LOT of time over there in my youth). In Hawaii it was rather inelegantly called 'pupus'. and cosnisted of such things as ahi tartare, teriyaki bites (I assiduously avoided faux sushi made with Spam), rumaki, bacon wrapped pineapple etc.

I greatly enjoyed the variety I found in tapas bars in Spain, especially in the North in Basque country, too.

Jeff Grossman/NYC wrote:I was at one bar, outside Tokyo, that served dried/salted little fishes as the bar snack. Very tiny, silver-shiny little things.

You can buy many different varieties of tiny dried fish at H Mart and other oriental groceries. At H mart there are fairly large plastic bags with a spectrum of tiny fish sizes, from fingernail up to an inch long.